A sound education?: Local radio and the education of adults

Radio broadcasting is an accepted addition to educational formats, but can it be argued that specifically radio has a distinctive potential for education? Can it cater for an audience in a way which is different, focusing particularly on the concept of the local community? Exploring these questions, this book considers, in its earlier chapters, theoretical debates surrounding the professionalism of broadcasters and educationalists, and the ways in which they have attempted to engage with each other; the establishment of BBC local radio in the 1960s; the history of educational broadcasting and developments most pertinent to radio broadcasting for adults; the definition of adult education; broadcasting techniques; and the appropriateness of local radio as a medium for effective educational broadcasting to an audience. The core of the book is an attempt to remedy the apparent lack of research about the effectiveness of educational broadcasting, particularly on radio, by documenting and assessing the educational work of BBC Radio Merseyside since its inception. A case study of the educational programmes produced by the station between 1980 and 1990 examines aspects of the output that used innovative techniques for adult-educational work.